Outdated legacy systems are lending themselves to human error in the state’s justice department, according Police Minister Michael Ferguson.
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The comments come after 31-year-old Rocherlea man Josh Brown was incorrectly released from Risdon Prison 28 days early.
On Sunday Mr Ferguson said the government was concerned about the mistake, but was acting on the recommendations of a 2017 KPMG report – including ICT components.
“That individual concerned was released due to a human error that shouldn’t have happened and mustn’t happen again,” he said.
“That person is being apprehended in an appropriate way, by the right people.
“But we are acting on that important report that is being provided to government, because we need to move away from a manual-based symptom of calculating dates, to a properly robust one.”
Mr Ferguson said the government was working to establish an IT system to allow for the proper predicted modelling for when prisoners were eligible for release.
“We need to get rid of these old out-of-date legacy systems that are plainly lending themselves to human error, in this case,” he said.
“But mainly, are not good enough and we will do better.”
However a Labor spokesman said it was hypocritical for the state government to claim credit for taking action, considering earlier budget cuts.
“In 2013 the Liberals proudly promised in their alternative budget to cut funding that had been set aside by the previous Labor government, to upgrade ICT systems in justice and the prisons,” the spokesman said.
“Labor warned at the time that this short sighted action could have tragic consequences.
“Despite the warnings they followed through with the cuts in their first budget in 2014.”
Brown is the eighth-known prisoner to be incorrectly released since 2015, including some who were sentenced for serious and violent crimes.
A government spokesman said Justice Connect ICT program proposal requests, aimed at sharing information between courts and prison in real time, would be evaluated between now and early 2019.
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